In response to a request from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), we audited Cypress Ridge Apartments' use of HUD-insured mortgage loan proceeds and property operating funds governed by a regulatory agreement. William Commercial Property Management (agent) was the management agent and general contractor for the multifamily rehabilitation project under taken with funding insured under Section 221 (d)(4) of…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Long Beach’s (Authority) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. The Authority was selected based on its having received low housing quality standards indicator scores for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 under HUD’s Section Eight Management Assessment Program in addition to a lack of recent on-site reviews by HUD. The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority conducted…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General audited the City of Cincinnati's (City) Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2009 annual audit plan. We selected the City based upon the results of our three previous audits of the City's HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME). Our objective was to determine whether the City had…

We reviewed Bank of America's (servicer) home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) servicing division located in Seattle, Washington. Bank of America is one of the largest lenders of HECM mortgages for properties located in the five southwest states in the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Region VI jurisdiction. Our objective was to determine whether the servicer complied with HUD regulations,…

We audited the Newark, Delaware, branch office (branch office) of J.P. Morgan Chase bank (J.P. Morgan Chase), a supervised direct endorsement lender approved to originate Federal Housing Administration (FHA) single-family mortgage loans. We selected the branch office because its default rate was above the state’s average default rate. Our objective was to determine whether J.P. Morgan Chase complied with U.S. Department of Housing and…

We reviewed the City of Oakland’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program to determine whether it administered its program in accordance with federal requirements and its own policies and procedures. We selected the City for review due to its large annual HUD funding and because it had not been the subject of an OIG audit for several years. The City did not always administer its HOME program in accordance with federal requirements and…

We are conducting an audit of the Lackawanna Municipal Housing Authority’s (Authority) administration of its capital fund program. We selected this auditee because the Authority pledged its future capital fund appropriations to perform a special project as part of the Capital Fund Financing Program. Specifically, the Authority incurred a $4.25 million long-term liability to perform lead-based paint abatement and modernization work at…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers (Grace Hill). Our audit objective was to determine whether Grace Hill properly charged payroll and support expenses to the grants. We concluded that Grace Hill charged unsupported salary and benefit costs to the grants because it did not require grant staff to properly track their time. Additionally,…

We audited the City of Baldwin Park Housing Authority’s (Authority) Housing Choice Voucher program. We conducted the audit because the Authority received a “near troubled” status and scores of zero on five Section Eight Management Assessment Program indicators for fiscal year 2007. The objective was to determine whether the Authority determined housing assistance payments correctly and completed annual reexaminations in a timely…

HUD OIG performed an audit of the Housing Authority of the City of Newnan’s activities with its related nonprofit organization, the Newnan Housing Development Corporation. The review was performed based on concerns that the Authority encumbered its assets, used its federal funds to support nonprofit development activities, and had a conflict-of-interest transaction. The purpose of the audit was to determine whether the Authority…

We audited single-family loan originations at Eagle Home Mortgage (Eagle Mortgage), located in Kirkland, Washington, to determine whether it originated Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. Eagle Mortgage did not always originate FHA insured loans in accordance with HUD requirements. Specifically, Eagle Mortgage did not follow HUD'…

We audited Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation (Financial Freedom) as part of our annual audit plan objective of improving the integrity of single-family insurance programs. Our objective was to determine whether Financial Freedom complied with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) origination requirements for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, commonly known as a reverse mortgage. Financial Freedom…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Public Housing field office in Phoenix, Arizona (Public Housing). The objective of the audit was to determine whether Public Housing’s procedures for monitoring the Nogales Housing Authority (Authority) were effective. The audit was started because Public Housing performed several monitoring reviews at the Authority; however, there were indications that…

We audited the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (Authority) administration of its housing assistance payments for leased housing. This is the last of three audit reports we plan to issue on the Authority's program. The audit objective addressed in this report was to determine whether the Authority properly maintained documentation to support housing assistance payments and accurately calculated them. The Authority did…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) monitoring of its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program grantees under the jurisdiction of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, Community Planning and Development (CPD) field offices as part of our annual audit plan. The audit objective was to determine whether those offices adequately monitored their CDBG program grantees to ensure…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited Midwest Mortgage Capital (Midwest). Our audit objectives were to determine whether Midwest followed HUD requirements for underwriting loans and performing its quality control program for single-family production. We concluded that Midwest did not properly underwrite 7 of the 29 defaulted loans reviewed. These loans had material underwriting…

We audited the Culver City Housing Agency’s (Agency) administration of its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program waiting list and housing assistance payment calculations. We initiated this review based upon information we received regarding waiting list administration and potential tenant eligibility issues. The Agency’s ongoing lease-up deficiency and lack of monitoring visits by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban…

We audited the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (City) as the result of problems noted during a prior audit involving HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME)-funded activities administered by the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (subrecipient), which was not adequately monitored by the City, compounded by concerns stemming from various newspaper articles related to the Marlton Square project, which…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program of the City of Kansas City, Kansas (City). Our objective was to determine whether the City followed HUD requirements when establishing and managing HOME projects. We concluded that the City did not obtain adequate environmental reviews, improperly awarded HOME construction projects, improperly…

We conducted an audit of the City of Houston’s (City) Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program, which is managed by its Housing and Community Development Department (Department), as part of our strategic plan and regional goals. Our objective was to determine whether the City and its project sponsors complied with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) HOPWA regulations, requirements and its grant…